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One Language a Year | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5589 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 9 of 17 15 March 2011 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
I got to about lesson 35 of German Without Toil and was able to read German newspapers a few months ago, (Without Toil got really boring :|...or I just wasn't dedicated) I wasn't perfect, but I could definitely get along if I had to randomly move to Germany (Which is sorta my goal) FSI is brutal in my opinion, one of those things you look at and go :| German: How to Speak and Write it might be the most in depth self study method I've ever seen, it's VERY in depth...you'll learn words like "der Shalthebel" as if you'll ever need to use that everyday :D the only downside is no audio. I'm not going for absolute perfection (I mean, I would like to get to advanced fluency EVENTUALLY) but I'd like to learn enough to watch TV, read the paper, listen to music, radio, and have a good understanding of what is being said, enough to go on a trip or on vacation and not use English. Which is probably the goal for every year and language. It's hard to describe I guess:D like NOT use English, but NOT slaughter the language I've learned either :P However, I do agree, Assimil and German made simple may not take me there, but stacking them with German: How to Speak and Write it, and FSI should give me a very good grounding. Has anyone actually finished FSI German? Thanks for your support guys! I'm so glad to be back (although I technically never left) and if I don't get to the level I want within a year, I'll continue studying that language until I do, but a year of hard study SHOULD give me a base where I could take on another language on the first of January (a similar one, like Portuguese) while still studying Russian for example, not something crazy like Mandarin and Russian at the same time :D 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5457 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 10 of 17 15 March 2011 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think your plan seems viable indeed. I can only compare it to what I've done myself. I think I spent about 10
months, including a few brakes, on my German before I put it aside in order to learn French. I have used the following methods for German: - Assimil German without Toil - Assimil German with Ease - Linguaphone German - German: How to Speak and Write It (I've only done the first 13 chapters.) - Cortina German (the book only) - Berlitz Self-Teacher German - Teach Yourself German (the old blue and yellow; I did maybe two thirds of the book before it got too boring.) - FSI (I've only done a little bit; I find it uninspiring.) As you can see, I've used quite a few methods, but I consider Assimil and Linguaphone to be the most important. I'm able to read newspapers, Wikipedia articles and most pages I come across on the net, although I have to look up a few words here and there. I occasionally listen to German radio, mostly newscasts from Deutsche Welle, and I understand most of what is said without too much trouble. There are many cognates between Scandinavian and German and this probably helps me understand. I'm not so sure about my active skills though, and I don't think I would understand fast spoken colloquial language. Edited by tractor on 15 March 2011 at 7:39pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5770 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 11 of 17 16 March 2011 at 5:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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What for? First of all, whoever came up with the idea that after having finished a certain course you should be able to understand 80% of what you randomly encounter should be flogged. It is when you understand 80% of something (I'd like to exclude the grammar words and constructions, you have to understand those), then you should be able to use the context to make out the general meaning of most of the unknown words or expressions. As soon as you stopped being a total beginner, and until you reach advanced fluency (or even beyond) you can always find material for which that is true. More than that, when you start to learn about a new topic, you will often be at the lower end of comprehension and slowly work your way up to good comprehension and active knowledge. Over and over again.
At the point when you can use native material (or talk to natives about most topics - with their kind help) you haven't stopped learning the language, not at all. It's just that the focus shifts away from intensive study. But at this point it is still difficult to use the language, and with that I mean that you need to concentrate, think about rules, infer meanings, paraphrase in the hope of your conversation partner being able to tell you the correct word etc. Reading is slow, listening is draining, conversations make you feel like you've suddenly become quite stupid. When you have several languages at that level, it becomes increasingly difficult to improve in any of them, especially when the new one takes away most of your attention and time. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5560 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 12 of 17 16 March 2011 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Good to have you back!
I think your plan of focusing on one new language each year (whilst maintaining and moving forward in others you already know well like Spanish) is an excellent idea, and I look forward to following your progress. For me it was mainly German in 2010, and now this year it's Russian (although I admit I tend to have a roving eye when it comes to languages and ashamedly need to revisit my jilted Spanish and Swedish at some point too lol). Best of luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 2_Journey Newbie United States Joined 5028 days ago 32 posts - 33 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 13 of 17 16 March 2011 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm actually planning on doing something similar! This year (my first) is Spanish, and I'm enjoying it immensely so far.
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| Dragomanno Triglot Groupie Zimbabwe Joined 5007 days ago 80 posts - 98 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Latin, Lithuanian, Albanian, Ancient Greek | Message 14 of 17 18 March 2011 at 4:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Mmm...I can agree on starting up a new language per year...not so sure about the deadline you are going to charge yourself with - eight months. That because you should know in advance the fluency you will get after eight months of studies. Sometimes it will take less time, sometimes unfortunately much more. My humble advice is: take your time! ;-)
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| delta910 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5879 days ago 267 posts - 313 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, German | Message 15 of 17 18 March 2011 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I would say that you have a good plan! Go with it! I wouldn't be too worried about Russian though in my opinion
when you come to it since you will be just focusing on that language when you get to it. I would say that you have some good resources too that you are going to use with those languages. Just put the time and effort needed everyday and you'll do fine. Good work! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ribas Pentaglot Newbie Brazil blogmarceloribas.blo Joined 5864 days ago 37 posts - 48 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish, French, German Studies: Italian, Mandarin | Message 16 of 17 19 March 2011 at 6:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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Interesting, I have imagined how such a project would work. Good luck.
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